God of War Ragnarök features a huge skill tree for Kratos and Atreus to upgrade and learn new abilities from. Learning new skills is essential to keep up with the wide array of creatures, hostile forces, and bosses you can expect to find in every world that Ragnarök contains. Gear is the only way to level up Kratos, so gaining experience points goes toward learning skills and upgrading certain pieces of gear. This guide will explain the upgrades that you must make first in God of War Ragnarök.
Related: All armor sets and stats in God of War Ragnarok
Best Beginner Upgrades in God of War Ragnarok
After completing the intro sequence and finishing up in Sindri’s house in the Interworlds, you can start spending the XP you earn with Kratos and Atreus on different skill trees and Runic attacks. Experience that Kratos gains are put into a pond that draws Runic abilities and skill tree. For this reason, knowing which skills to learn first is valuable, as experience is hard to gain in the first few hours of play.
It’s best to ignore any of Runic’s abilities at the beginning of the game, as the skill tree has invaluable upgrades that should be high on your agenda. The skill tree is divided into three sections, Technical, long-range, and melee. Both the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos Axe can be upgraded to your hearts content. Here are the upgrades you should learn first.
- leviathan ax
- Frost Awaken: This allows you to freeze your ax and deal severe frost damage.
- Ax Throwing: Allows you to throw an ax and confuse enemies with R1.
- Freeze Throw: A heavy ax throw can instantly freeze weak enemies.
- feathers of chaos
- Burning Wipe: Press R1 during the Flame Whiplast to deal medium burn damage.
- Frost Evaporation: You will deal more damage to enemies affected by frost.
- Hyperion Pull: Allows you to swipe an enemy and pull them towards you.
These skills will enhance the diversity of your weapons and help you deal with weak and powerful enemies with different techniques. Make use of the Flame Whiplash and Frost to destroy enemies with elemental damage. If enemies are in range, use the Ax Throw upgrade to finish them off or attack powerful enemies that charge you up close.
Atreus has a limited set of upgrades at the start of the game, so feel free to invest in his first four skills to make him a powerful NPC ally that helps you control large groups of enemies.
